Chapter 13: Preventing and Responding to Violence

1. Chapter 13:Preventing and Responding to Violence Elementary Classroom Management Yuliya Tsypenyuk ELE 301 Dr. Pan

2. How much violence is there? • 1992-2005 – crime in nation’s schools decreased from 50 incidents per 1,000 students to 24 • 1993-2005 – percent of high school students who had been in a fight decreased • In 2005- 129,000 students 12-18 were victims of serious violent crimes at school and 74,000 were victims of theft • When asked to name the biggest problem that their school had to deal with, students from ages 13-17 mentioned violence, fighting, and school safety nearly twice as frequently as any other problem

3. Strategies for Preventing Violence • Already mentioned in prior chapters • Getting to know your students • Establishing orderly classrooms • Curbing peer harassment and bullying • Working to meet students’ learning needs all reduce the potential for violence

4. Strategies for Preventing Violence • Building supportive school communities • Educators argue that violence prevention has to focus on the creation of more humane environments in which students are known and feel supported. • Birthday boards, displaying every child’s work, “school beliefs” posted in each classroom • “School Families” • The changing nature of families and economic conditions that require both parents to work outside the home, many students spend more time in the company of peers than with adult family members. • These peer relationships are not an adequate substitute for adult attention, so it is critical that teachers develop and nurture caring relations with their students

5. Strategies for Preventing Violence • Be alert to signs of hate • Take note if book reports, essays, drawings, or journal entries convey messages of hate or violence. • Report these concerns to your principal, school counselor, or district’s affirmative action officer • Help students recognize hate symbols (ex: swastikas) • During Halloween, discourage costumes that involve negative stereotyping, promote hate, or display weapons

6. Strategies for Preventing Violence • Know the early warning signs of potential for violence

7. Strategies for Preventing Violence • Know the early warning signs of potential for violence • The early warning signs are not an infallible predictor that a child will commit a violent act towards self or others. • Potentially violent students typically exhibit multiple warning signs • Learn the proper reporting procedures in your school • Be observant in “unowned” spaces • Be observant in hallways, cafeterias, stairwells, and locker rooms- “unowned” spaces where violence is most likely to erupt

8. Strategies for Preventing Violence • Be attentive to whispers, rumors, and threats • Targeted Violence- incidents in which the attacker selects a particular target prior to the violent attack • Findings from US Secret Service and Department of Education on school shootings: • Incidents of targeted violence at school are rarely sudden or impulsive. Typically, the attacker planned the attack in advance • In most of the cases, other people knew about the attack before it occurred. In over three-quarters of the cases, at least one person knew; in nearly two-thirds, more than one person knew. • Most attackers engaged in some behavior prior to the incident that caused others concern or indicated a need for help.

9. Strategies for Preventing Violence • Be attentive to whispers, rumors, and threat • Findings show contradict the perception that students just “snapped” or at loners who kept their plans to themselves • Many of the peers who knew didn’t report it because they didn’t feel comfortable doing so in the school climate or didn’t believe the threat would be carried out • Teachers need to be attentive to whispers about such threats

10. Strategies for Preventing Violence • De-escalate potentially explosive situations • These situations usually begin benignly, but when a student is angry and not in the proper state of mind, the student may act defiantly • Teachers often contribute to the escalation by becoming angry and impatient

11. Strategies for Preventing Violence

12. Responding to Violence • Even though your first instinct might be to shout, teachers need to remain calm and in control. This way, you can lower the level of emotion in the classroom and prevent the situation from escalating. Ask the students to lower their hands and send them to opposite areas of the room. • Have an adult accompany the students to the principal or counselor – never sent angry, aggressive students to the office alone.

13. Responding to Violence • Speak privately and quietly to the students. Do not rebuke or threaten punishment – acknowledge anger and show willingness to listen • Resist temptation to act normally – Speak slowly and softly to minimize threat and keep your hands by your sides. • If student’s aggression escalates, move away unless you are trained in physical restraint techniques. Even then, do not use those techniques unless there are no other options

14. Responding to Violence • Once violent students are out of the room, determine how the other students in the room are feeling and decide what to do next. It is important to allow the other students to express their feelings • When the child returns from principal or other disciplinarian, give them a chance to reestablish a positive relationship.

15. Responding to Violence • Creating safer schools and schools that feel safer requires a collaborative effort to reach out to students and build a climate of tolerance and community.

16. What would you do?